IVORY COAST: FRENCH AND FOREIGN NATIONALS WAITING AT AIRPORT FOR FLIGHTS OUT OF COUNTRY AS ANTI FRENCH PROTESTS CONTINUE OVER PEACE DEAL
Record ID:
183604
IVORY COAST: FRENCH AND FOREIGN NATIONALS WAITING AT AIRPORT FOR FLIGHTS OUT OF COUNTRY AS ANTI FRENCH PROTESTS CONTINUE OVER PEACE DEAL
- Title: IVORY COAST: FRENCH AND FOREIGN NATIONALS WAITING AT AIRPORT FOR FLIGHTS OUT OF COUNTRY AS ANTI FRENCH PROTESTS CONTINUE OVER PEACE DEAL
- Date: 1st February 2003
- Summary: (U3) ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FEBRUARY 1, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF HUNDREDS OF DEMONSTRATORS MASSING IN THE STREETS OF IVORY COAST'S MAIN CITY ABIDJAN EARLY ON SATURDAY 0.03 2. SLV DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING SOME WITH LEAVES IN THEIR HAIR 0.07 3. SLV PROTESTOR WITH SIGN SAYING: "Chirac the Nazi, Villepin the fascist." 0.11 4. VARIOUS OF MARCHERS (2 SHOTS) 0.18 5. SMV MEN WITH SIGN SUPPORTING PRESIDENT 0.22 6. SCU OF WOMAN WITH A U.S. FLAG IN HER HAIR 0.27 7. WIDE OF MARCHERS WALKING TOWARDS THE CENTRE OF ABIDJAN 0.31 (U4) ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FEBRUARY 1, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE MARCHING TOWARDS CENTRAL ABIDJAN TO PROTEST THE TERMS OF A PEACE DEAL (2 SHOTS) 0.38 9. SLV MARCH LEADERS INCLUDING CHARLES BLE GOUDE WALKING HAND IN HAND THROUGH THE STREETS WEARING T-SHIRTS BEARING THE SLOGAN: COTE D'IVOIRE MARCOUSSIS NO 0.43 10. SLV PEOPLE IN THE STREETS CHANTING 0.46 11. SLV THE YOUTH LEADERS DANCING AS THEY MARCH 0.50 12. WIDE OF SOLDIER LOOKS FROM A ROOF AT A LARGE CROWD MASSED IN ABIDJAN'S REPUBLIC SQUARE 0.54 13. TOPSHOT OF PEOPLE AT THE RALLY (2 SHOTS) 1.02 14. CLOSE OF SIGN SAYING: CHIRAC = TERRORIST, DE VILLEPEN = REBEL 1.06 15. WIDE OF CROWD WALKING 1.10 16. WIDE OF PROTESTORS IN ABIDJAN 1.14 17. SLV FRENCH PRIVATE SECURITY GUARD WALKING PAST PASSENGERS LINED UP AT THE AIRPORT TO CATCH AN AIR FRANCE FLIGHT TO PARIS 1.18 18. SCU SOUNDBITE (French) UNIDENTIFIED FRENCH PRIVATE SECURITY GUARD, SAYING: "Many French people are leaving Ivory Coast because they are afraid for their families." 1.23 19. CLOSE OF THE SECURITY GUARD'S GUN WITH A WOMAN AND CHILD STANDING BEHIND 1.27 20. SMV OF WOMAN AND CHILD WALKING TOWARDS THE DEPARTURE LOUNGE 1.31 (U3) ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FEBRUARY 1, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 21. WIDE OF FOREIGNERS LINING UP AT THE AIRPORT TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY 1.34 22. SLV WOMAN WITH CHILD 1.39 23. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ENTERING INTO THE DEPARTURE HALL (2 SHOTS) 1.47 24. SLV WOMAN AND CHILD WATCHING THROUGH A WINDOW FOR PEOPLE CHECKING ONTO AN AIR FRANCE FLIGHT FOR PARIS 1.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th February 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Reuters ID: LVA5Z3MEELW4RFUQJ7CY2VU02VNF
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of protesters have poured into
Abidjan to denounce a French-brokered peace deal for Ivory
Coast just as West African mediators prepared a last-ditch
rescue mission for the tottering accord.
In a sign of the deteriorating situation, France has urged
its 16,000 citizens to leave if they can.
Well over one hundred thousand people massed in
Ivory Coast's main city on Saturday (February 1), to protest
the terms of a peace deal aimed at ending a civil war.
Saturday's (February 1) march in Abidjan was the
culmination of a week of often violent protests against an
agreement that President Laurent Gbagbo's supporters say was
forced on him by the former colonial power to the advantage of
rebels holding half the country.
There was no immediate sign of the stone-throwing youths
who attacked France's embassy and army base and then robbed,
roughed up and spat on hundreds of terrified French citizens
as they tried to escape the mayhem.
"Ivory Coast stand up," chanted the marchers as they
jogged or strolled towards central Abidjan in a mass of
orange, white and green national colours.
Four months of war in the world's top cocoa grower have
their roots in years of growing division between the largely
Muslim north, held by the rebels, and the mostly Christian
south.
Hundreds of people have been killed and more than one
million displaced in the country of 16 million.
The peace deal agreed in France a week ago was meant to
end a conflict that threatens the region by giving key
government positions to rebels and Gbagbo's political
opponents, who dispute his victory in 2000 elections.
Protesters clashed with French soldiers sent to protect
their citizens at the international airport on Friday. The
demonstrators prevented the return home of new Prime Minister
Seydou Diarra, who was named under the accord.
In a sign of the deteriorating situation, France has urged
its 16,000 citizens to leave if they could. More than 2,500
French troops are in the country to protect foreigners and to
police a truce with the three rebel factions.
"Many French people are leaving Ivory Coast because they
are
afraid for their families," said one French security guard.
Diarra, a widely respected former premier from the largely
Muslim north who is seen as politically neutral, was stuck in
Senegal's capital Dakar after a regional summit.
Regional leaders who met there on Friday urged Gbagbo's
government and the rebels to "work together to ensure the
scrupulous application" of the accord.
Regional mediators were due in Ivory Coast on Saturday to
try to persuade Gbagbo to keep the word he gave in Paris.
France has driven home the same message and the United
States added its own weight late on Friday.
But if Gbagbo bows to foreign pressure he will face the
wrath not only of the protesters but also of several political
parties, traditional chiefs and most importantly the army --
which has rejected aspects of the accord.
The country is waiting anxiously for Gbagbo to address the
nation about the accord. Since returning home from Paris he
has referred to the accord as "proposals" and promised not to
betray his supporters.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None